Valve



Sept. 7, 1954 w. L. HUNTINGTQN VALVE Filed June 26, 1950 26 ear Summon-WILLIAM L. HUNTINGTON Patented Sept. 7, 1954 VALVE William L.Huntington, Minneapolis, Minn., as-

signor to Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company, Delaware Minneapolis,Minn., a corporation of Application June 26, 1950, Serial No. 170,374

. 8 Claims. 1

This invention relates to fluid control valves and, more specifically,to valves adapted to deliver oil only at atomizing pressure to an oilburnor nozzle and to quickly cut oil the supply of oil to said nozzle toprevent dribbling of oil from said nozzle after opening and/or closingof the valve.

One of the most troublesome problems of the prior art oil burnerinstallations has been the one of unburned oil accumulating in thebottom of the oil-burning furnace. This accumulation usually is due tothe failure of the oil to atomize immediately upon delivery of oil tothe burner nozzle and the continued delivery of oil after the oil supplyhas been interrupted, causing the dribbling of a few drops of oil ineach instance. This undesirable oil flow in prior art installations isdue to the slow build-up of oil pressure to the atomizing pressure ofthe nozzle and the slow reduction in oil pressure from the atomizingpressure upon termination of the oil delivery, respeotively.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a simple, inexpensiveand reliable control valve for use with an oil burning nozzle to preventa delivery of unburned oil to the furnace in which the nozzle isinstalled.

Another object of the invention is to provide an oil control valvehaving a snap acting mechanism that is pressure-operated to provideclean out in and cut ofi of the oil supply to a nozzle.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and small valvewhich provides means to give delayed delivery of oil to a burner nozzlefollowing the supply of oil to the valve and the substantiallysimultaneous starting of a fan for delivering combustion air to thecombustion chamber of the furnace.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a delayed acting oilvalve of very small size that is pressure operated and suitable forinstallation on existing oil burner installations.

Another object of the invention is to provide an oil valve that may beinserted between an existing nozzle on an oil burner installation andits sup ly line so as to provide delayed but snap acting opening andclosing of the oil supplies at or above atomizing pressure, followingthe starting of the delivery of fuel to said valve and air to thecombustion chamber of said installation.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a hydraulic timedelaying means for a snap acting oil valve to cause a delay in thedelivery of oil with respect to the delivery of air to a furnace byconventional means.

Other objects of the inventionwill become ap parent upon reading thefollowin detailed description of the invention in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the valve with apartially broken away conventional nozzle attached thereto;

Figure 2 is an elevational view of a snap-disc, one of the elements ofthe valve; and

Figure 3 is an elevational view of the left-hand end of the valveactuating unit, as viewed in Figure l.

The body of the valve is formed of two sections II and I2. The sectionII has an internallythreaded recess. I3 that extends substantially athird of the length of said section, from the righthand end thereof asshown in Figure 1. A second recess I I, of smaller diameter than thefirstmentioned recess, extends from the bottom of the recess I3 agreater distance into said section than said first-mentioned recess is.A threaded bore I5 extends from the left-hand end of section II to thebottom of recess M to provide an inlet port for the valve.

Section I2 has a recess It therein of smaller diameter than the recessIt in section II. The outer diameter of the wall of the recess It is ofthe same diameter as the recess I3 and is screwthreaded so as to permitthe two sections I I and I2 to be threaded together with a washer Ittherebetween to provide a sealed chamber. An enlarged-diameter bodyportion I'l extends from the bottom of the recess I6 to the right-handend of the section I2, as viewed in Figure 1. An internally-threadedbore I 8 extends from the righthand end of the body portion I1 inwardlytoward the recess It, but terminates a spaced distance from said recessIt to form a partition wall I9 between the recesses I6 and I8. An axialbore 20 extends through the wall I9 to complete the oil flow passagefrom the inlet I5 of section II through the valve body formed ofsections I I and I2 and through the outlet recess I8.

Slidably mounted in the recess It, is a generally cup-shaped end member2| of a bellows 22. The member 2| has a recess 23 in the right sidethereof, as viewed in Figure l, and a stepped boss 24 on the left-handside thereof. Spaced holes 25 through the bottom of the recess 23provide for the flow of oil between recess I3 and the bore 20. Twoannular shoulders 26 and 27, formed in the outer edge of the recess 23,form with a washer 28 resting on the shoulder 21, an annular roove for apurpose to be presently described. The washer 28 is held in place bystaking a portion or portions of the member 2| over the outer surface ofthe washer.

' The other end of the bellows 22 is secured to a stepped boss 29 on astationary generally cupshaped, end member 36 by a welding or solderingprocess. A disc 3| rests on a shoulder 32 of a stepped recess in theleft side of the end member 30 to provide a fluid reservoir 33 withinsaid end member. A capillary tube 34 extends from the center of thebellows 22 to the center of the chamber 33. The bellows 22 is completelyfilled with a suitable liquid such as oil while the chamber 33 is only alittle over half filled with the same liquid. This construction enablesthe bellows to move slowly in a direction which causes liquid to movefrom said bellows and into the reservoir 33, compressing the air abovethe oil therein, and also enables the bellows to move more rapidly inthe opposite direction, wherein oil will flow from the reservoir 33 intothe bellows 22. The more rapid movement in said opposite direction isdue to the fact that a vacuum may be created in the bellows withouthaving to wait for the oil to flow thereinto from the reservoir 33.Extending between the end members 2| and 30 and resting on one of thesteps of the stepped bosses thereon, is a compression spring 35 thatnormally tends to hold the end member 2| its furthest distance from theend member 30. To provide for the varying of the compression strength ofspring 35, the disc 3| has a slot in the outer surface thereof which maybe engaged by a screwdriver extending through the bore l to provide forthe rotation of the end member 30. The peripheral edge of the member 30is flattened on four sides to provide for the flow of oil past said endmember and is screw-threaded for engagement with the screwthreads in therecess |4. Thus, when the member 3|] is rotated by a screwdriver, theposition of the member 30 axially of the section Il may be varied tovary the compression of spring 35.

A disc valve 36 rests on a V-shaped annular rib 31, formed on thepartition wall l9, providing a line-contact, ring valve seat. A stem 38,secured to the disc valve 36 in a conventional manner, extends throughthe bore 26 and through an opening in a snap disc 39. The snap discrests on a shoulder 40 of the valve stem formed by a reduced-diameterextension 4| of said stem. A clip washer 42 fits in an annular groove(not shown) in said extension 4| to hold the disc on the stem 38. Thesnap disc has a plurality of openings 44 therein to provide for thepassage of fluid from the inlet |5 to the outlet l8. The peripheral edgeof the snap disc rests in the annular groove formed by the shoulder 26and the washer 28. .When the end member 2| moves toward the left, asviewed in Figure 1, the central portion of the snap disc 39 will remainmotionless due to the fact that it is held by the valve stem 36 andthedisc valve 36 is resting on the valve seat. The peripheral edge of thesnap disc,

however, will move with the end member 2| sufflciently far as to causethe snap disc to buckle and eventually snap over to the position shownin broken lines in the drawing, that is, with the central portion of thedisc resting on an annular rib |9a, formed on the wall |9. This riblimits the movement of the valve disc 36 toward the right. For the sakeof clarity, the curvature of the snap disc and the movement of the valveare both exaggerated in the drawing as compared to the actualconstruction of the valve. Movement of the end member 2| in the otherdirection, will cause the reverse action of the snap disc to quicklyseat the valve 36 on the valve seat 31.

A burner nozzle 45, the details of which form no part of this invention,is shown screw-threaded into the outlet I8 of the section I2. A rubbersleeve 46 substantially fills the space between the side wall of thenozzle 45 and an orifice member 41 screw-threaded into the nozzle, toprevent the entrapment of air therein. A metallic washer 48 bearsagainst the inner ends of the nozzle 45 and the sleeve 46. A secondrubber sleeve 49 fits within the bottom of the recess I8, with the innerend thereof bearing against the wall I9, and serves to space a filterscreen 50 from the valve 36, in either of its operating positions, aswell as to help fill up the recess |8 to prevent the entrapment of airtherein. A washer 5| likewise helps to fill up the recess 3 and spacesthe screen 56 from the inner end of the orifice member 41 of the nozzle45.

Operation With the valve installed in an oil burner having a fuel pumpor other means for controlling the delivery of oil to the inlet l5 ofthe valve and a fan for delivering combustion air to the burner, it isdeemed apparent that upon the supply of oil to the inlet l5, said oilwill flow past the flattened surfaces of the end member 30 and entirelysurround the bellows 22, and will pass through openings 25 to the outersurface of the end 2| of the bellows and through the openings 44 in thesnap disc to the opening 26 and the inner surface of the disc valve 36.As the pressure in the valve builds up rapidly, due to the operation ofthe fuel pump or other oil control means, the spring 35 will be onlyslowly compressed as the oil in the bellows 22 will only pass slowlythrough the small opening in the capillary tube 34 and into the chamber33, compressing the air therein. As a greater length of time would berequired for the end 2| of the bellows to move to its ultimatebellows-compressed position, than it would if the oil were not presentin the bellows, it is obvious that the delayed action of the bellowswill cause the disc to snap the valve 36 open as indicated above, onlyafter a sufficient time has passed to assure that the fan for deliveringair to the combustion chamber has come up to speed and is delivering therequired amount of air to support proper combustion. It will be observedthat since the valve 36 remains seated until the snap disc has movedpast its dead center position, there will be no delivery of oil to thenozzle until the valve 36 opens with a snap ac tion.

When there is a discontinuance of the supply of oil to the valve, aswhen a room thermostat of the heating system has become satisfied, whichcauses a cutting ofi of the oil supply to the valve, the reduction inoil pressure around the bellows will become quite rapid as, at thattime, oil is still flowing through the nozzle. Then when the pressurehas dropped to a predetermined value, spring 35 will move the end 2| ofthe bellows toward the right at a much more rapid rate than the end 2|moved toward the left, due to the fact that a vacuum will be createdwithin bellows 22 to permit it to so move. The oil may then take itstime flowing from the chamber 33 through the capillary tube 34 and intothe bellows to refill said bellows. It will be observed, however, thatthe valve 36 will remain in its full open position until the snap dischas buckled past dead center in the other direction and caused a quickor snap closing of the disc valve 36 into engagement with the seat 31.This provides a clean shut-off of the oil and does prevent the dribblingof oil from the end of the nozzle in a non-burnable condition.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been describedabove, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that othermodifications may be made thereof without departing from the spirit ofthe invention. Therefore, it is to be understood that the scope of theinvention is to be determined solely from the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a snap-acting valve, the combination comprising a valve bodyformed of two generally cylindrical inter-engaging sections, the firstof said sections having a valve seat intermediate its ends, a valve headon the opposite side of said valve seat from the second of .saidsections and cooperable with said valve seat, a stem on said valve headand extending through said valve seat, an apertured snap disc secured atits center to said stem, a liquid filled bellows having one of its endsloosely secured to the periphery of said disc, and a stationary cylinderpartially filled with liquid secured to the other end of said bellows, apassage of small internal diameter extending through a wall of saidcylinder with the ends thereof in contact with the liquid in saidcylinder and bellows respectively.

2. In a snap-acting valve, the combination comprising a valve bodyformed of two generally cylindrical interengaging sections, the first ofsaid sections having a valve seat intermediate its ends, a valvecooperable with said valve seat, a stem on said valve, a snap discsecured at its center to said stem, a liquid filled bellows having oneof its ends loosely secured to the periphery of said disc, and astationary cylinder partially filled with liquid secured to the otherend of said bellows, a capillary tube extending through a wall of saidcylinder with the cylinder end thereof within the liquid in saidcylinder.

3. In a snap-acting valve, the combination comprising a valve bodyformed of two generally cylindrical interengaging sections, the first ofsaid sections having a valve seat intermediate its ends, a valve head onthe opposite side of said valve seat from the second of said sectionsand cooperable with said valve seat, a stem on said valve head andextending through said valve seat, a snap disc secured at its center tosaid stem, a liquid filled bellows having one of its ends looselysecured to the periphery of said disc, and a stationary cylinderpartially filled with liquid secured to the other end of said bellows, acapillary tube extending through a wall of said cylinder with one endthereof within the liquid in said cylinder and the other end thereofwithin said bellows.

4. The combination as defined in claim 3 wherein all of the elements ofthe combination are substantially coaxial.

5. A fuel control valve comprising an inlet and an outlet in coaxialalignment, a valve seat between and coaxial with said inlet and outlet,a valve head normally in engagement with said seat, a snap disc securedto said valve head for actuation thereof and coaxial with said inlet andoutlet, and pressure responsive means operably engaging said snap discand coaxial therewith, a bodily adjustable fluid reservoir between theinlet and said seat, said pressure responsive means having a restrictedfluid connection with said reservoir to cause it to move slowly inresponse to pressure increase to provide delayed snap-action of saidvalve in response to said pressure increase, said fluid reservoir havingparts thereof spaced from the side wallsof said valve to permit fuel toflow around it from said inlet to said seat.

6. A delayed action oil valve comprising an inlet and an outlet, a valveseat between said inlet and outlet, a valve normally in engagement withsaid seat, snap-acting means secured to said valve for actuationthereof, and pressure responsive means operably engagingsaid snapactingmeans, a bodily adjustable'reservoir between said inlet and seat, saidpressure responsive means having a restricted fluid connection with saidreservoir which causes said means to move slowly in response to pressureincrease to provide delayed snap-action of said valve in response tosaid pressure increase, said inlet, outlet, valve, snap-acting means andpressure responsive means all being substantially coaxially aligned.

7. An oil burner valve comprising an inlet and an outlet, a valve seatbetween said inlet and outlet, a valve head coaxial with said inlet andoutlet and normally in engagement with said seat, snap-acting meanssecured to said valve head for actuation thereof, and pressureresponsive means within said valve operably engaging and coaxial withsaid snap-acting means, said pressure responsive means having apartially filled and fixed liquid chamber and an expandable and filledliquid chamber interconnected by a small passage therein which causesthe expandable chamber to move slowly in response to pressure increaseto provide delayed opening action of said valve head in response to saidpressure increase, said liquid chambers having at least portions thereofspaced from the side walls of said valve to permit oil to flow aroundthem from said inlet to said valve seat.

8. A valve for use in oil burners comprising an inlet and an outlet, avalve seat between said inlet and outlet, a valve head normally inengagement with said seat, snap-acting means substantially coaxial withsaid inlet and outlet and secured to said valve head for actuationthereof, and pressure responsive means within said valve operablyengaging said snap-acting means, said pressure responsive means havingan expandable chamber which causes the snap-acting means to move inresponse to pressure increase to provide delayed action of said valvehead in response to said pressure increase, said last mentioned meanscomprising a fixed storage chamber partially filled with liquid andconnected to said pressure responsive means by a capillary tube and saidexpandable chamber being filled with a liquid, said chambers beingsupported in spaced relationship with respect to the inner walls of saidvalve so that oil may flow substantially completely around said chamberswhen flowing through said valve.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 879,050 Girouard July 23, 1901 834,256 Brooks Oct. 30, 1906928,459 Kieselhorst July 20, 1909 1,934,548 Kellogg Nov. 7, 19332,055,133 Newell Sept. 22, 1936 2,140,954 Frazee Dec. 20, 1938 2,469,038Winkler May 3, 1949 2,580,433 Kain Jan. 1, 1952

